Parking and City Parks

Urban park advocates struggle mightily to create new green space through a precious parcel here and an irreplaceable acre there. But a large swath of existing parkland is given over to the prosaic task of automobile storage, complete with its side impacts.

Not every park is held hostage by the automobile. Parks surrounded by low-density housing with little or no mass transportation and filled with high-intensity sports facilities are under relentless pressure to provide large amounts of space for cars. Parks with many people living or working in close proximity and a range of good transit options nearby are able to succeed with little or no car storage. Nevertheless, battles over where to store cars rage in parks coast to coast.